TWI Winter Term 2026:
January 16 – March 12
REGISTRATION AND TWI ANNOUNCEMENTS + 2026 TUITION INCREASE
Between November 21 – January 4, our offices will be on our yearly sabbatical to work on internal projects and reset for the coming year:
November 22 – December 20: Please plan on extra time for us to respond to all correspondence, including registration confirmations.
December 20 – January 4: Our offices will be closed. We will respond to all emails that come in during that time when we return on January 5.
IF YOU REGISTER AFTER JANUARY 4, 2026, all classes are $445 ($395 for trainees).
Classes eligible for CEUs offer 16 hours of continuing education for counselors upon verification of satisfactory course completion and submission of course evaluation. See below for CE details.
MORE ON CEUs: The Center for Journal Therapy is an Approved Continuing Education Provider (ACEP) through the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) and may offer NBCC-approved clock hours for programs that meet NBCC requirements. Programs for which NBCC-approved clock hours will be awarded are identified with an asterisk (*). These courses are taught by licensed or licensure-prepared mental health professionals. The ACEP is solely responsible for all aspects of the program. Participants are responsible for checking with their state’s licensing board for their discipline to ensure that National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) continuing education is accepted.
Course List
(click a class to learn more):
TW516: Writing toward Wholeness with inspiration from C.G. Jung
TW550: Intro to Poetry Therapy
TW512: Pennebaker/Intro to Research
TW547: Poetry Through Uncertain Times: A Facilitator’s Guide
TW538: Pain Meets Pen: Quieting Chronic Pain and Illness with Therapeutic Writing
PD553: Curriculum Development
Instructor: Kathleen Adams
You’ll first learn the four stages of therapeutic writing groups, then an easy, effective method for creating an “arc” of sessions designed for any audience or theme you choose. The end product? A 6-8 week curriculum of your own design for a therapeutic writing workshop/class. This is a laboratory-style class where interactive learning includes offering critique and feedback on other students’ work, and receiving critique/feedback on your own work.
CEUs Available.
CJF/CJT Requirement
Required Text: None, Internet Reading Only
This class is for trainees who have been in the program for at least 1 year. Trainees need to have completed the ICT and have taught at least 1 JTTS Workshop prior to taking this class.
PA503: Group Process
Instructor: Carolyn Koehnline
Therapeutic writing is often best achieved in groups, yet few practitioners have specifically developed skills in group facilitation. Using the quintessential book in the field of group process, Irvin Yalom’s Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, this class serves as a first course for developmental practitioners and a review for licensed clinicians or credentialed coaches. You’ll develop the confidence and theoretical competence to responsibly facilitate groups for healing and change.
CEUs Available
Required for CJF
Required Text:
Leading Peer Support and Self-Help Groups by Charles Drebing, Ph.D.
TW516: Writing toward Wholeness with Inspiration from C.G. Jung
Instructor: Jon Sayers
Carl Jung was arguably the most dedicated journaler of all the great depth psychologists. For almost two decades, starting in 1913, he took dozens of deep dives into his ‘black books’, attempting to switch off consciousness, evoke fantasies, record and reflect on them in what he would call his great ‘confrontation with the unconscious’. He later converted his journals into the magnificent Liber Novus (Red Book), which formed the basis for his entire life’s work. Jung’s mapping of the human soul has influenced modern life in more ways than we may be aware. In this course, we will engage all the parts of our minds as we explore some of his key ideas through reading, discussing, imagining, writing and reflecting together – for our own self-development and to help us in our developmental work with our journaling groups.
CEUs NOT Available
TW Elective
Required Text:
Writing toward Wholeness: Lessons Inspired by C.G. Jung
by Susan M. Tiberghien
TW550: Intro to Poetry Therapy
Instructor: Nancy Scherlong
This course explores the many ways that the interactive use of poetry can help navigate the human journey. Students will learn the leading theoretical model of poetry therapy to address universal life experiences, assess poems for use in personal growth contexts, participate in self-reflective writing experiences, and engage in classroom discussions designed to stimulate a deeper look at one’s own writing process.
CEUs Available
TW/PD Flex Elective
Required Text: Biblio/Poetry Therapy: The Interactive Process: A Handbook, 3rd Ed., by Arleen Hynes & Mary Hynes-Berry, North Star Press, 2012. Must use 3rd ed. Available from Amazon.com
TW512 – Pennebaker/Intro to Research
Instructors: Anjana Deshpande and Deborah Ross
Dr. James W. Pennebaker is the preeminent researcher in the field of therapeutic writing. This class incorporates guided writes based on the Pennebaker emotional release model and also offers an introduction to the basic concepts of social science research, including how to find and describe studies to include in your presentations.
CEUs Available
CJF/CJT/CAS Required Class
Required Text:
Writing to Heal by James W. Pennebaker
TW547: Poetry Through Uncertain Times: A Facilitator’s Guide
Instructor: Elaine Brooks
We are living in uncertain times, and this leads many of us to poetry for inspiration and comfort. Many poetry and journal facilitators are offering writing groups for those struggling with the fear, anxiety, and grief that are a result of our times. In this course, you will learn how to create poetry facilitation plans that will support you and those you work with. Topics include facing uncertainty, finding hope and compassion, and creating connection. With guidance, you will create writing prompts, warm-up activities, discussion questions, and closing exercises. And you will respond to plans created by your peers. You will leave with increased confidence in effectively using poetry in your work and a collection of poems and plans that you can use for yourself and in your work. Orientation to the theory and practice of poetry therapy (e.g. TWI’s prior/concurrent Intro to Poetry Therapy) preferred but not required.
CEUs Available
Required Text:
None
TW538: Pain Meets Pen: Quieting Chronic Pain and Illness with Therapeutic Writing
Instructor: Elisa Friedlander
What does it mean to live with a chronic medical condition? Like any sacred relationship, the one with our bodies is intimate and ever evolving. This multi-layered course invites you to learn how to facilitate a process that helps participants deepen and transform their relationship with the body and chronic pain or illness through therapeutic writing. You’ll engage with poetry, music, and art, learn from a biopsychosocial-spiritual perspective, participate in dynamic peer discussions on topics such as bias, stigma, self-disclosure, grief, visibility, and culture, and develop a “Pen Prescription,” a journaling-focused plan for mindfully responding to concerns ranging from the practical to the existential.
CEUs Available
TW Elective
Required Text:
None
Ethics Course
We are now providing a 6-hour guided independent study, Ethics course that meets the requirements for the National Federation of Biblio/Poetry Therapy (NFBPT) credentialing as well as our Therapeutic Writing Institute (TWI) credentialing.
Tuition is $100 ($50 for TWI Trainees), which includes an emailed CE Certificate or Certificate of Completion. For more information and to register for this course: https://journalversity.journaltherapy.com/courses/227/about